Google on Monday augmented Google Maps with a feature called Earth View that brings the Google Earth software’s 3D perspective to the Web browser.

Earth view is available through the installation of a browser plug-in Google originally issued in 2008. With it, people can see the contours of world–canyons and mountains, most dramatically–using the Google Earth fly-through interface.

Places with 3D building models look more interesting from ground level, but if your suburb hasn’t received that treatment, the perspective mismatch can be a bit awkward when viewing the scene from an oblique angle farther from perpendicular.

You can try flicking the mouse to pan around, scrolling the mouse wheel to zoom in and out, and using Cntrl-drag to tilt the view from perpendicular to a more oblique angle. Google announced the Earth view on its corporate blog.

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Source: http://news.cnet.com

Google launched a new feature in Gmail on Wednesday that will alert users when the system detects suspicious activity that might indicate the account has been compromised.  Gmail already displays information at the bottom of the in-box showing the time of the last activity on the account and whether it’s still open in another location. But people often don’t think to check that information, Will Cathcart, a Gmail product manager, said in an interview on Wednesday.  So Google is taking the extra step of displaying a warning to users in the form of a big banner that says “warning your acct was accessed from…” and which specifies a geographic region where the account was accessed when unusual activity was detected.  “For example, if you always log in from the same country and all of a sudden there is a log in from halfway around the world” that is suspicious, Cathcart said. Or, if the system detects that one particular IP address is accessing numerous accounts and changing passwords for them, that would trigger warnings for affected accounts, he said.  After receiving the warning banner, users can click a “details” link to get more information, such as where the last access points were. Users can change their password from that window.  More information about the warning system is on the Gmail blog.

Source: http://news.cnet.com

Apple today filed a lawsuit against mobile devices maker HTC. The suit claims infringement of 20 patents related to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture, and hardware.

In the release, Steve Jobs says, “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it…We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”

Taiwan-based HTC was the first company to manufacture a cell phone based on Google’s Android operating system, which has emerged as a significant competitor to the iPhone, AP reports. It’s also making the Nexus One phone that Google is selling directly to consumers.

It looks like the Nexus One, and other HTC phones, may have hit too close to home for Steve Jobs.

Earlier, we supposed that Apple’s multi-touch user interface could be the basis for the lawsuit. But after examining the complaint, it appears that Apple is NOT suing over multitouch, but rather a bunch of other software. (When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, he touted its multitouch screen, then said, “And boy, have we patented it.”)

Meanwhile, Apple is already tied up in a patent lawsuit with Nokia, claiming Nokia is stealing Apple technology. Nokia says Apple is stealing its technology. Kodak is also suing Apple claiming technology theft.

Basically, Apple’s patent lawyers are going to be busy for the next year or so.

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Source: http://www.businessinsider.com thru http://finance.yahoo.com